FICOIDE.E 



15 



Cotyledons connate at the base or perfoliate, sessile, oblong, 

 obtuse, glabrous, pale green, succulent, 5-8-5 mm. long. 



Stem erect, terete, ultimately decumbent, thickened upwards 

 from the pair of leaves below to the pair above, deep red, soft, 

 succulent and watery ; 1st internode 8-10 mm. long. 



Leaves cauline, opposite, decussate, exstipulate, sessile, connate 



\l 



FIG. 401. 



Mesembryanthemum tricolorum. 

 Nat. eize. 



Pio. 402. 



Mesembryanthemum echinatum. 

 Nat. size. 



at the base or perfoliate, linear, obtuse, watery, and succulent, 

 glabrous, covered with longitudinal glandular lines which exude a 

 liquid, at least when young, pale green or suffused with red, and more 

 or less crystalline in appearance. 



First pair distant from the cotyledons, possibly owing to crowding 

 in the seed-bed. 



Second and third pairs crowded when young. 



Mesembryanthemum echinatum, Ait. (fig. 402). 



Primary root slender, tapering, with very slender lateral fibrils. 



Hypocotyl subterranean and short, indistinguishably merging 

 into the root. 



Cotyledons short, rounded at the end, flattened horizontally, 

 perfoliate, succulent, glabrous. 



Leaves simple, entire, radical, opposite, exstipulate, sessile, 

 glabrous, subulate, acute, or subaristate in the young condition, 

 deeply convex on the back and smooth or slightly elevated into 

 rounded and shallow prominences with corresponding depressions 

 between them, flattened on the upper surface and slightly uneven, 

 bright green and shining on both surfaces. 



